Saturday, May 31, 2008

DH:Driving us out to get the dogDoing night duty with the dogDriving the dog back to where she came fromWhen you heard the same crash sound that I heard, running out of bed to rescue me from a seizure (which I did not have....)Listening to me when I am having bad times....riding the rollercoaster with meYour Bourne Ultimatum dance.Cleaning the house while I was away working.Picking me up and driving me to work in Brooklyn.Letting me take an uninterrupted nap after church

Big Sis:Helping us train the dogUnderstanding about the dog having to go back homeGiving me a pep talk when I was nervous to play piano with youYou, cold calling your peops to ask for donations for your play-a-thonUnderstanding when I made a mistake and booked myself on the day of your last concert. Shoot.You on our impromptu picnic...you seemed to love itBeing excited about me MCing your community service concert (as opposed to being embarrassed: ) )

Lil SIs:Saying BYE to Uli so matter-of-factly Being such a good walker now...after a few months of complaining about it!You wanting to get your picture taken with the girl celebrating her Quinceneria The way you pronounce letter's with L in them....gLass, pLayground, cLass, actuaLLy...etc.Saying, "I'm going to take a break", or"one second" when really you needed to say: "I need to go to the bathroom."

Uli:for the two days I was your mom, I thought it was really cute when you sat on the wood floor and your little limbs would gradually slide out from underneath you.And I enjoyed our walks too.

Friday, May 30, 2008

The weather today is so gorgeous. While both of my kids were safe and sound at school, I tied my sneakers and went out for a power walk.Day 5 of exercise did not involve me waking up early (sleep hygiene requires a certain amount of hours, and the LOST finale disrupted that), so instead I went on a walk after my two castings this morning. I turned on my NPR Book Podcast and off I went. I love feeling that free~

The only incident on the walk was a mother goose who hissed at me when her babies were crossing my walking path. I think I actually said out loud: "Seriously?" (or something to that affect), and passed them on a WIDE circle.

When I got home it was time for La Tortura (my new abs song), and OUCH...Day 5 of 100 abs was not fun, at all.

Tomorrow I am wrangling in the early morning, so my apartment that so needs to be clean, will just have to wait until the next rainy day...sorry house.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

She had to go in for an Avon casting today.Avon is trying to hire the same model for different spots. One is the beauty/closeup/face shot and the other is the thighs and backside area. She was told to be prepared to have both ends photographed. She made it very clear to her agents that she is not a backside parts model...more of a hand parts model. She wasn't thrilled about getting that part of her body dissected at a casting, but she thought she would play it by ear when she got there.

She arrived at the appointed time with her little one, and apparently the casting didn't start for one hour AFTER that time. Her little one did so well pretending that the casting office was a neighborhood of castles. She took care of all the baby elephants and puppies that inhabited the pretend castle, while her mom went in and out of thinking about just how many dimples were "back there."

She was finally called into the room and the casting director soon realized that she did not have a closeup enough lens to capture the crows feet and wrinkles that are required for the ad. She had to wait a while longer while a new lens was fetched a few blocks away. It was then time to make her backside smile. She is not sure how well it did, but she chose not to think about it and just hoped that there was a very creative photoshop artist already assigned to the job. ( "Let's see, we'll just take the dimples HERE and lengthen and straighten them and graft them in HERE to make crowsfeet. Voila! You can totally use this girl for both, it will just cost you in POST.")

This was around the time the little one decided to near that tantrummy place. She hasn't brought her little one to a casting in a while, so she doesn't have the exact right tricks up her sleeve to produce that magic obedient behavior. She was grateful to a casting director who had kids the same age as hers and was really understanding. 1 hour and 50 minutes after she arrived at her casting (she was the first person to go btw), she left and rewarded her little one with a Shake Shack hotdog and a long ride on the tire swing at Madison Square Park. Then she asked to take a nap at home, but since that wasn't an option, she offered her two arms and her lap and her little one took her up on that offer and slept for an hour on a park bench until it was time for picking up big Sis and a Mister Softee Cone.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Today I got to go on a field trip with my daughter's class. We walked several blocks to a nearby nursing home to play a concert for the lovely residents.Please do not make fun of my photoshop....I just had a few minutes to take out a few folks in the background:I love it when I get a chance to wear my tank (bought on etsy) of my violinist daughter!

I had two jobs today. I MC'd the concert (skipping completely our second performer...whoops! sorry! frontal lobe!) (don't worry, I realized it about halfway through...) And I also accompanied Big Sis while she played two of her favorite pieces.

I had never been to a nursing home in NYC, and can I just say, even the wiser generation still look like New Yorkers...one gentleman in particular had very stylish glasses and sweater! They all seemed to really enjoy the children performing.

There was a little boy today who played a piece that was very familiar to me. It was my very last piano assignment that I fulfilled before quitting piano lessons. I had been playing for 5 years and I was twelve years old. He just turned 6.

I also had two castings today, one of which has already resulted in a callback (yes!), and I did my 100 crunches for delilas! I must get to bed now so that I can force myself up in the morning for Day 4 of Kristy returns to exercise!

I got my haircut this weekend. I think I lost like 8 pounds on Saturday because my hair was getting so thick and heavy and I got much of it removed. It is much thinner on the bottom, so it is much more manageable to do! I am happy with it. You can sort of see in this post how thick and out of control it was getting, but it's much better now. Hello Summer....I think I can handle the heat now.

This past weekend my husband challenged me to a Weight Loss Competition.In 2 months he wants to lose 20 pounds. I smiled and said, ok, I will try to lose 3 pounds before you lose 20. He was not satisfied with this. He challenged me to get my abs back. Yes, since the second baby the abs come and go. And since the Head Bump of '08, they are definitely MIA. I could care less about flabby vs. firm belly, I'm more into FLAT, and flat can be firm or flabby...it simply requires a delicate art of suck-in posture and contraction. But even so, since my recent purchase of a totally ab-concealing cute new swimsuit, I am even less motivated to "get my abs back."

I am however really wanting to get back to a regular workout routine for several reasons:

1. I have always been pretty good at working out (on and off, babies, health and other issues pending) since about age 14. As I have gotten older, when I take a break from working out, I see the affects so much faster then when I was a young spring chicken. So, I believe in it...it needs a place in my life.

2. The meds eat away my bones, cause fatigue and moments of sadness. I need to implement more weight-bearing exercise to counteract the bones, and just regular exercise in general to promote energy and endorphins!

3. I am about to pass into that 30 place, which means my metabolism is all down-hill from here. I need to get in shape so that I can have the best 30's decade ever!

And it's good for my heart and keeps my clothes fitting just right and blah blah blah.

So, I worked out yesterday! It was only the second official workout I have had since March, even though I have fit in some physical activity mostly in the form of walking as much as I can in between the 2 workouts. It felt so good, and I had a really great day yesterday. This morning I was determined to workout again. I gave myself a pep talk last night:

"When the alarm clock goes off, and you feel that you have only been sleeping for 15 minutes and need more sleep, remember that you have actually gotten 8 hours of sleep, and that your meds are tricking you into thinking you cannot possibly get up, but really you CAN. And you MUST."

So, I did. I woke up at 5:50 and got dressed and went downstairs and did my 3rd workout since HBO8 (Head Bump of '08). And now, it's 4 hours later and I am dragging. And I knew this would happen too. I have told myself to give it 2 weeks to get over that initial hump of feeling a little tired from the early rise and the exercise, but that it will be worth it. And I think it will be, but now that I have formally announced it, hopefully that will be even more motivation for me to keep going, oh yeah, and the rock hard abs that I have to get back in 2 months. Ha!

For the record, since the challenge, I have worked out twice and my DH, none...but he is still recovering from strep throat, so I'll give him a few more days because strep is SUCH a beast. And to further counteract my head start, I made a homemade banana cake with homemade chocolate frosting, and I consumed a large percentage of the 13 x 9" pan. It was abilicious.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

I'm Not Crazy by Matchbox 20all daystarin at the ceilin makinfriends with shadows on my wallall nighthearin voices tellin me that i should get some sleepand dodgin glances on the trainand i know, i know they've all been talkin bout mei can hear them whisperand it makes me think there must be somethin wrongwith meout of all the hours thinkinsomehowi've lost my mind

chorusbut i'm not crazy, i'm just a little unwelli know right now you can't tellbut stay a while and baby then you'll seea different side of mei'm not crazy, i'm just a little impairedi know right now you don't carebut soon enough you're gonna think of meand how i used to be

chorusi'm not crazy, i'm just a little unwelli know right now you can't tellbut stay a while and baby then you'll seea different side of mei'm not crazy, i'm just a little impairedi know right now you don't carebut soon enough you're gonna think of meand how i used to beand how i used to beand how i used to bei'm just a little unwelland how i used to beand how i used to be

Saturday, May 24, 2008

One of the perks of living in NYC is that it is a popular tourist destination. It becomes even perkier when family are the tourists. Last Sunday I saw my cousin and his wife and children at my daughter's Violin concert. Then yesterday I saw my DH's uncle and aunt and first cousin once removed (who happens to live here too, but we don't see her much). We ate a nice lunch and I treated them to my favorite cupcakes in town. I also saw The Dakota yesterday, which I hadn't thought of/noticed since I came to NYC for the first time 11 years ago.

Today my DH had 5 of his cousins and their spouses in town, so I met up with about half the group to do some Central Parking and again, the cupcakes. I try to work those in with all visitors to the city.

In Central Park I got a taste for Geocaching, as his cousin had mapped out several for Central Park. My kids loved following the GPS, but we never found the treasure...rats! (exclamatory phrase, not rodents). We also passed by Tavern on the Green and learned a few dance moves from an Indian Wedding celebration that we happened upon in progress.

The past few days have been my most favorite weather in the world. That sunny and seventy forecast that I just L-O-V-E LOVE! This afternoon I hope to get out again after I get some of my hairs cut. Part of me really wants to chop it, but I think I will try to like what I've got already. I think I will after it is a little more sculpted....we'll see!!!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

She walked out of the two glass doors that were closing.The one on the left hit her left hipbone, hard. She must have reacted pretty violently because the security guard inside winced in empathy and the woman outside on the sidewalk stopped and asked: "I saw that, are you ok?"

She smiled while breathing and holding her hip bone. She explained to the passing stranger: "It wouldn't be a big deal, it's just that I hit this hip at least once a week because I am on medicine that affects my perception." It stopped hurting after a few blocks, but she had flashbacks to 6th grade when those hip bones first blossomed. She had bruises on each one for about a year.

Last week she had her worst run-in with the doorframe of her bedroom. She was just walking quickly into her room and ended up writhing in pain on the floor because of the impact of doorframe to left hipbone. OWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

She also has a terror moment every once in a while when she thinks her child is going to hit their head or fall backwards or experience some other sort of danger, when in reality it's just her mind putting the space between them and the danger object much closer than they really are. She tries to remember her struggles with this while she is using knives and burners, and hopefully she can add, walking through doors to her list, to avoid further pain, anguish and unnecessary bruising.

I still can't believe that I did a job less than 2 weeks after the Head Bump of '08. I have been modeling for about 4 years now, and I have learned that the results of a photo shoot rarely match how you felt about the photo shoot. For example, if you are feeling really great, beautiful, sexy etc., often the pictures will not reflect just how great you were feeling. Likewise, if you are sick or not feeling well or feeling like you did not look so good, you will get the pictures back and they might be pretty decent, and won't look as bad as you felt.The job that I did shortly after my bump was so difficult. I was still on the bad medicine (thankfully the rash decided to appear the day after the job), and thus totally groggy and out of it. I didn't even remember that I had to bring a lot of choices for wardrobe, and was stuck wearing this chartreuse shirt for the entire shoot (which I like very much, but isn't the most form-fitting or most commercial color). I left the shoot thinking it would be a long shot if they even got 1 good shot from that afternoon. I got the photos today, and they actually turned out really well. I was amazed, and the lesson that I spelled out above was confirmed once again. They way I felt that day was hidden rather well (except in that photo of me lying on the floor in exasperation...that was ALL me that day)!

Getting these pix in the mail was the highlight of my day yesterday. I am having a rough go-at-it lately.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Several times a week, Lil Sis and I transfer at Times Square from one train to another.A few times a week we spot a ballerina mime about halfway through our journey from one train to the next. The ballerina mime will not dance unless you feed her bucket with money. I have lost count at how much I have forked over in order to get a few ballerina moves.

Since I secretly aspire to be a subway performer, I have taken a little time to look up our ballerina girls. There are two that appear from time to time.

One is Suzanne. I like her costume very much. The second ballerina that we see a bit more often is Therisa. She is usually wearing the outfit she is seen in here, I think because she takes her act underground (subway) when it is chilly, and that's usually where we see her, thus the gold, long coat. Therisa is always on a tall box and Suzanne on a flat piece of white board.

I love the mosaic that is New York City, and after watching a small bit of an interview of Therisa on her website, it seems that she fell in love with New York as well. Whenever I pass her, I wonder if she recognizes us. I wonder if she can see that there are patterns in commuters. Does she notice that every time she is in THAT spot at THAT time, that a little person approaches the bucket with a dollar and smiles and waves? What is the view from atop that box? And I also wonder, has she ever stumbled and fallen? I am certain that if it were me, I certainly would have multiple times.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Yesterday the kids at Big Sis' school played their instruments all day long at our local Barnes and Noble to raise money for their school.Before we were up to play, I was on duty to promote the event to the B and N shoppers. Big Sis and her friend and I announced the concert and started making up lines to attract attention. Ok, I was the only one making up lines, they were just encouraging me and choosing which lines they liked the best. Big Sis liked this one: "Come see today's musical prodigies in a free concert. Next time you see these talented kids you will have to pay big bucks, but today, it's free!"

I think I freaked Raul Esparza out when I yelled, "Raul, come see the free concert, support the school!" He was nice about it, I was just trying to be funny by calling out a local celeb.

I wore my beautiful vintage-print music note skirt and my little coral cardigan. It was my first time playing the piano to accompany Big Sis on her violin. I was nervous, but she kept telling me, "Mom, it's over in a snap." Funny. I wonder if she even has any concept of how much I have performed in my lifetime (not piano mind you)! It's funny that she's giving ME advice on the nerves.

It went pretty well. I only made a few mistakes. She was pretty much perfect. We had such a fun time drumming up pledges for the event. She made a lot of calls to her friends and family asking them to make a pledge for her play-a-thon. Serious cute factor right there. My cousins from Utah even stopped by to see her perform, as they were in town and having lunch just up the street. So, that was one snapshot of our weekend. I'm dying right now because her end-of-year concert just started 9 minutes ago and I am missing it. Frontal Lobe! I committed to a job without first checking my calender and now I am stuck not seeing it. Thank goodness for the video camera.

Friday, May 16, 2008

I flipped open my O Magazine, and there were my little ones!Baby on the left and little girl on the right. Is it bad that I don't remember if that baby was a boy or girl or what name it posessed? We had several that day, so I guess I will give myself a break on that.How much do I love Target though.....just LOVE it.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

It was such a beautiful New York Day today.After I experienced phenomenal customer service at the Union Square Petco (I had both internet and store items to return and no store receipt, and they were WAY good), I decided to walk in my city for a while. I happened upon the Shake Shack at Madison Square Park, a place I have never been to because the line is always so long, but passed by several times. If you work nearby, you can check the live webcam to see how the line is progressing.

I saw an elderly Weimaraner and my heart took a little gulp. After speaking to his owner for a while, I thought the line looked short and I ought to experience my first SHAKE SHACK. I got a shackburger and a black and white shake. I was so pleased to see that they are a GREEN establishment. Their power source is the wind. Beautiful.

The food was great but left me with a bit of a tummy ache. I went home and had plans to take a power walk, but instead I collapsed on my bed and slept. I woke at my alarm unready to face the world. Then the med moment started. I felt like I was being flushed down a toilet into sad, irrational land. I decided my best defense was to phone some friends. I spent most of the afternoon talking to some chums, which helped very much.

On the way home from picking up Big Sis from ballet, the phone rang. My agent! A callback! I am now officially back in the game. That helped me feel a bit better too.

Yesterday I had the inspiring opportunity to sing in a 20-minute one-act musical written by 1st-year NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writers.The writers saw me in The Snow Queen about a month ago and requested me to be one of three cast members for their piece, entitled CAKE (honored!).

It was about a competitive eating contestant (my husband), and his nemesis. This particular competition was of cupcake eating. I was playing a high-strung, competitive and angry woman who had been disqualified from competitive eating years before because I was out of control. My husband did not know my past secret identity until the end.

I got to sing some awesomely fun pieces. Towards the end, during our climactic finale I was singing a particularly uptempo piece with a lot of words. I turned the page in character and it ripped and fell to the floor. My lyrics then became: "My page is on the floor....."

I also broke character a bit when I got a huge laugh on a line that I didn't anticipate as a "laugh line" during rehearsals. My break was just me laughing with the audience for a few beats. Shows have previews for a reason people!

Anyway, what a challenge it was to learn a show on Monday and perform it on Tuesday. It was so great singing with Jonathan Rayson and Beth Kirkpatrick as well. Beth has got herself some PIPES.

Doing these readings this past month have been such a gift to me after the adversities of late. I have definitely got the theatre bug again, but I am not sure if I am ready for the chaos that I have found auditioning for musical theatre to be...but, as my DH pointed out, now that I have had so much stress lifted by not having pup anymore, maybe I am ready...

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Monday, May 12, 2008

But, she peed so much and started barking at my daughter while trying to take ownership of me as her mom and no one elses and she cried in the night and peed on the carpet thrice and tried to chew the couch and cried a lot and was really good at taking walks but peed in the house, did I mention that? and she was cute when she took my shirt and made it extra comfy in her donut bed and she had a special liking for shoes which was cute until I started imagining her teeth getting large and causing more damage and she peed and the pee smelled like fish which reminded me that I am deathly allergic to shrimp and I tried to stay present with the dog but it just didn't work and so my wonderful husband of mine drove Uli back to her home in Pennsylvania, and there she will stay.

And Big Sis cried a little and forgave me right away with this response: "Mom, don't worry, I will forget about her." And Lil Sis said a casual "Bye" and I think she was totally fine because this whole time (2 days) kept talking about how the puppy missed her mom. And my husband called after dropping her off and said he was sad about missing Uli, but could tell she was happy to be back.

And I was so happy when I came home to no cutie patootie Uli that I cleaned my whole house after 7 pm...which NEVER happens.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

On March 7th, I was doing everything I could to get discharged from the hospital so that I could make it home in time to sing Happy Birthday to my 6-year-old. My plans for 2008 had crumpled up into a little pile of ashes and I was in mourning over what 2008 was supposed to be and not looking forward to my new life and situation. Little did I know, that that very same day my third daughter was born. Meet Uli (OOH-lee)~I have been her mom for about 36 hours now. I have already cried and asked over and over again: What have I done?

I have also felt closer to nature, and I have felt excited about the possibilities of her training and our exercise together. One of my favorite things to do is exercise outside, and I used to love doing it with my Dachshund growing up, but now I have a different German dog who can actually go the distance, and not have to be carried home (Oh Chloe...). She is already stepping up to the plate, preferring my power walk gait to the leisurely stroll. She is also very good at "SIT."Uli treats Lil Sis like one of her puppy sisters (there were 4 girls and 1 boy in the litter), and Lil Sis is adjusting to puppy. She shows a lot of compassion for her: "She wants her mommy." or tonight when I heard the kennel rattling and found Lil sis and Uli on the floor together: "She was sad, she wanted to get out." Hmmmmm.Big Sis is all about the training. She loves giving her commands and rewarding her with treats. She also likes to towel off her drooly mouth after she has had a drink and enjoys that all three girls brush teeth together before bed. I, however did not enjoy when I caught Lil Sis brushing her teeth with Uli's toothbrush. Gross.Last night DH spent the entire night on Uli-Duty. He calmed her down when we put her away around 9, and then took her out at 2:30 and 5:30 when she needed to eliminate. By morning we had moved the girls in with me because Uli kept waking them up with her bark, and he was sleeping in the room with her in Lil Sis' bed. Tonight we tried a different approach. All three girls were put in their beds together, the music was turned on and Uli was the first one fast asleep with not one bark! Score. Just when I thought this might have been a bad decision, she has already made a lot of progress in one day.As for me. I am not a dog person. BUT, I am a dog whisperer. I do not give any affection or attention unless she sits. I am also being extremely patient. Uli is forcing me to be in the present. I praise when she does her business where she is supposed to and use my calm, assertive, Uh-Uh and removal when she pees where she is NOT supposed to. And I have also come to the conclusion that I will either have to roll up my rug or just plan on buying a new one once the house training has been accomplished.

I seriously never, EVER thought I would be a dog owner, especially in the city. But it's just what IS right now, and I am embracing that most of the time, but DH....I know you're reading, you will need to give me more pep talks along our journey, I am sure of that.

Friday, May 09, 2008

I gave notice to my agents that I could start auditioning again on May 5th.I didn't think much about what that might have meant for this week. I didn't worry about it or stress or brace myself or anything like that. I gave myself permission to say no to auditions if I was feeling overwhelmed or tired or not quite myself. I felt ready.

The emails came yesterday. I saw that familiar name in my inbox of my agent's assistant and I breathed a sigh of comfort, relief and joy. I did not know what to expect when it began again, but I was pleasantly surprised with my reaction. I ended up with 2 auditions today. Both girls were in school, the times and locations were managable, and I felt ready. I even lucked out and got to wear the same outfit for both auditions (a skirt was requested for both).

I only wish it hadn't been cold and wet. But, I even made it through that...thank you galloshes.

Both of my auditions went really well. The first one I had to mime eating chinese food, smiling and cross and recrossing my legs a few times. The second one I had to mime sleeping, waking up, walking, high-fiving, typing, checking out a guy and fixing my lipstick. There was a lot of miming today.

I also got another hold for a wrangling job next Saturday, and I am stoked to do a second NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program reading on Monday and Tuesday. This time it's a 20 minute one-act called "Cake". I hope we also get to eat some. Because, I really enjoy cake. Like....I love cake....especially cupcakes.

My daughter is student of the week this week. As one of here S o W events, I came to her class yesterday dressed as Mrs. Incredible...I took a pic with the class in our best super hero poses.

Riding the subway donned as Mrs. Incredible was surprisingly not out of the ordinary for most people. I rattled very few riders with my red lycra bodysuit and thigh-high black stripper boots. Before we went home I changed clothes, but I still had my black mask painted on my face, and that's when it got a bit dicey. Lil Sis was "on one" and during one particular scolding after she almost tripped and rolled down a very tall set of subway stairs, a man got in my face and informed me I needed Jesus in my life...he also muttered something about wearing a mask...that that prevents me from having Jesus in my life...something like that. I ignored him even though the meds told me to bite him in the bicep.

We made it home safely and without further incident, and I quickly washed my face so that Jesus could be with me once again. Let us pray.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

So,I think I might have had my first "event" since the biggy last March. It certainly wasn't a head-concussion-causing convulsion...but it was also not just the typical small dizzy spells that I have been experiencing on and off since last August.

I haven't read up on what a seizure is like, I think because I have been in slight (ok, complete) denial that I will have another one. But I think I narrowed this event down to a Simple Partial Seizure, and more specifically, a sensory seizure. This description from the website is most like what I experienced:

"These cause changes in any one of the senses...They may feel as if they are floating or spinning in space."

It's hard to put it into words but it reminded me of a labor contraction in that it began gradually and then peaked and then came down again, lasting about 3 minutes. I felt so affected by this sort of spinning pressure that I felt I could not sit up or stand up....it felt like the pressure you might feel when ascending in an airplane or on a rollercoaster or something. It was so strange. It happened in the evening when I was very tired and getting ready to go to bed. So....the journey continues. Dang. I hope it wasn't a seizure because if it was, my countdown to driving just reset on May 2nd.

Monday, May 05, 2008

My Baby Sister came to visit me this weekend. She decided to spend her prom money on a trip to NYC...and this after 6 different invitations to go! She is QUITE the popular one. My girls LOVED having Aunt Courtney visit. We had a wonderful time seeing shows, putting on shows on our roof deck, reading books and eating treats. We wish Aunt Courtney could be our nanny helper this summer, but it's her last one before college, so we'll let her stay at home instead of sharing a full-size bed with a bed-wetting 3-year-old.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

The afternoon after the Revlon Run/Walk I took my sister and my daughter to The Little Mermaid. After the show we had the special opportunity to get a backstage tour of the theatre. Derrick Baskin, who plays Jetsam in the show met us at the stage door and took us around. We saw all the racks of costumes, the giant set pieces, and we even got to walk across the stage. We met Sherie Rene Scott who plays the wicked Ursula and the little boy who plays Flounder. I think Big Sis was most excited to meet him. He was 10 years old and really sweet.

We took a few pictures, here with Derrick and Norm Lewis who plays King Triton

Sierra Boggess, who plays Ariel was a stand-out as well as Titus Burgess, who plays Sebastian. I'll be honest, it wasn't my favorite broadway show that I have seen. Though the talent was stellar and the ocean to stage translation whimsical and imaginative, it didn't get me in the gut...the stakes just weren't high enough. Nevertheless, it was entertaining and I am so glad I got to see it with my sister and my daughter.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

The starting line was so fun because there was a band above the Starting Point, and Tiki Barber waved to us!I think this is me saying Thank you to my team. I would post a pic of the team, but that's too many people to get permission from, so you just get to see their backs!

I got a sneak peek of some of the castmates of The Little Mermaid, who I saw performing later in the afternoon at the matinee. And our favorite team t-shirt that we saw along the route:

I loved these three twinner women with their tribute safety-pinned to their backs.My Sister and I had to take a picture with all of these Elders that were volunteering at the Run/Walk. We will be sending it to our brother serving a mission in the DR.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Yesterday I had my second neurologist appointment and it was dissappointing.My doctor had not looked at my 2-week-old 24-hour EEG. She was trying to scan over it while I was in the room and saying things out loud like: "You had dizzy spells.....there is a lot of blinking whenever you had a dizzy spell.....maybe these were mini-seizures............" She picks up the phone and tries to talk to who knows and then at the end says: "Well, it's probably nothing....probably normal."

So, this was not reassuring in any way. I plan on calling her tomorrow to see if she had a little more time than 30 seconds to look at the EEG that I wore for...oh yeah....24 HOURS------------

I had some questions written down and got them answered. But I also have no answers. The answer is that she wants me to double my medicine to the minimum regular dose to try to rid myself of the dizziness (I guess in the event that those probably nothing moments really were mini seizures!? huh?). She says I can probably drive in 3 months if I have no dizziness and no more events. I am looking at a minimum of one year on the meds with no events, to rule out epilepsy. When I spoke to her about side effects I am having from the meds, there was no explanation or follow up questions from her, so I felt like there was a dead end there.

After she rushed through my inconclusive EEG results and made sure I could touch my finger to my nose, she referred me to her colleague because she is taking a new position in Miami.

So, when I walked out of the office I needed to take a cleansing breath so that I didn't burst into tears.

After I allowed myself that one breath, I jumped into a cab that got me basically nowhere, and 10 dollars and running 10 blocks later, I was 15 minutes late for my root canal appointment.

You're right, this would have made a good TPT, but I am too ticked to be creative.